Recently, electronic meter registers have begun to appear in utility metering applications. An example of a separate electronic meter register is disclosed in Olson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,769. An example of an electronic meter register integrated in one housing with a mechanical meter is disclosed in Lazar et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,412,882.
Traditionally, ultrasonic and acoustic type meters have been used for measuring industrial and wastewater flows. Examples of such meters are disclosed in Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,735; Lee et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,896 and Vander Heyden et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,719. Such meters depend on signals impinging upon particles in the flow stream, Doppler methods and time-of-travel characteristics to measure the flow. European Patent Publication 1 493 998 A2, published Jun. 8, 2004, discloses an ultrasonic flow meter for utility usage.
The use of some types of electronic meters, such as ultrasonic types, fluidic oscillatory types and electromagnetic sensing meters, has been limited due to elements of cost. With advances in the design and construction of these devices, it may now be possible to meet marketplace pricing constraints.
Electronic meters have not previously been in widespread use in utility applications in the United States due to cost factors. As raw material costs and manufacturing costs are rapidly increasing at this time, there is a now a cost advantage to converting mechanical-based metering systems to electronic metering systems. Also, electronic meters are well-suited for use in AMR systems. Electronic meters provide greater accuracy than some other types of known utility meters. And, electronic meters are well adapted to flows with particles included.
Electronic meters and meter registers may be able to handle certain data that is particular to electronic meters such as reverse flow data, empty pipe data and end-of-life data. This, however, requires improvements in network communication protocols to handle the additional data.